During the coronavirus pandemic, nonprofit organizations that rely on big fundraising events have had to cancel them. But even though stay at home orders are being lifted and businesses are beginning to open back up, large gatherings are still prohibited. That means some non-profits will continue to struggle.
Lisa Grigsby is the co-founder of Planned2Give, a production company that works with nonprofit agencies on their fundraisers. She had event projects lined up with eight different organizations at the beginning of the year. All of them have cancelled because of the pandemic.
“We’ve looked at some virtual events, but they are just not generating the kind of revenue that most of these small nonprofits need, so we're really worried.”
Grigsby also runs the website Dayton MostMetro. She says their calendar is full of events that have been cancelled or postponed. Many of the events were big ticket fundraisers that bring in a lot of people and a lot of money for nonprofit organizations. She says those groups will need to find other ways to get financial support.
“Really, trying to just appeal to people to have those non-events, ‘hey if you’d normally come and support us with your $150 ticket, would you consider just making a flat donation?' I mean, it's going to change the way things work and, quite honestly, the world doesn't look as fun for a while.”
Grigsby says she doesn’t expect much to change until 2021.
